Variability of β-asarone in In-vitro Raised and Ex-situ Grown Acorus calamus Linn

The oil content in rhizomes of four-month old tissue culture raised and field grown Acorus calamus plants were extracted by soxhlet extraction method and analyzed by Gas Liquid Chromatography. The main chemical component found was β-asarone. Percentage of averageminimum β-asarone content was found 88.40% in the rhizome of 5 month old tissue cultured plants. The maximum β-Asarone average content 88.74% was recorded from rhizomes of twelve month old plants. β-asarone content varied between 64.27% of five month old plants and 82.61% in 12 months old plants. The leaves of in-vitro raised A. calamus showed minimum β-asarone content with an average of 79.82% in five monthold plants whereas maximum β-asarone averagecontent 81.71% was recorded from twelve monthold plants.